South African bonds were steady in afternoon trade on Tuesday as the market awaited consumer inflation data for July on Wednesday. Market expectations are for the consumer price index (CPI) to come in at 4.6% from 5.1% in the previous month, which could lead to lower interest rates when the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee meets next month. "This would be positive for South African bonds, although discussions of a much higher budget deficit than forecast were negative," said Stanlib retail investment director Paul Hansen. This will become clearer in October when the Finance Minister delivers his medium-term budget update, said Hansen. At 3.31pm, the R186 was bid at 8.525% from 8.51% and the R207 was at 7.29% from 7.275%. The rand was at R13.1896 to the dollar from R13.1713. US bond yields were higher with the US 10-year bond at 2.2044% from 2.1834%. Bond trade was expected to remain range-bound ahead of the Jackson Hole central bankers’ conference on Thursday. The conference...
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